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The research reports here, excerpted and edited by Barron's, were issued recently by investment and research firms. Many may be obtained through Thomson Reuters at thomson.com/financial or 800-638-8241. Some are available in the company-research area of WSJ.com, or through Factiva.com. Some of the reports' issuers have provided, or hope to provide, investment-banking or other services to the companies being analyzed.

Children's PlacePLCE 0.09354536950420954%Children's Place Inc.U.S.: NasdaqUSD64.2
0.060.09354536950420954%
/Date(1427828748200-0500)/
Volume (Delayed 15m)
:
92508
P/E Ratio
24.460076045627375Market Cap
1337190679.87183
Dividend Yield
0.932690812995492% Rev. per Employee
106747More quote details and news »PLCEinYour ValueYour ChangeShort position
• PLCE-Nasdaq Above Average • Price $47.76 on Nov. 26 by Caris We view the just-announced chief financial officer change as a positive. While hurt by a third-quarter merchandising miss in its baby business and by the Hurricane Sandy impact in the fourth quarter, we think the company's results continue to support our view that CEO Jane Elfers' strategies are working, putting it on the path to improved sales in 2012 and operating margins in 2013 and beyond, due to leaner inventory, better product, a more profitable outlet business, and an improved Canadian business. PLCE has a strong balance sheet with over $8 per share in cash and a new $100 million buyback program authorized, indicating confidence in current strategies. We also remain highly confident in management's ability to generate much higher operating margins over the next several years, making PLCE a compelling long-term structural story.

Our price target of $60 is based on a multiple of approximately 16 times our 2013 earnings estimate of $3.75 per share, below its five-year high.

ConAgra FoodsCAG -0.6775067750677507%ConAgra Foods Inc.U.S.: NYSEUSD36.65
-0.25-0.6775067750677507%
/Date(1427828768133-0500)/
Volume (Delayed 15m)
:
1711760
P/E Ratio
36.57416650029946Market Cap
15716337661.6165
Dividend Yield
2.7292576419213974% Rev. per Employee
492771More quote details and news »CAGinYour ValueYour ChangeShort position
• CAG-NYSE Hold • Price 29.63 on Nov. 27 by Deutsche Bank ConAgra announced this morning a not-so-surprising agreement to acquire
Ralcorp
(RAH) for $90 a share. Recall that ConAgra had attempted to buy Ralcorp (which then included Post) over a year ago. Based on our initial analysis using a $6.8 billion total value and Ralcorp's fiscal 2013 consensus estimate, we calculate the following deal multiples: 1.5 times sales, 15.1 times Ebit, 10.3 times Ebitda, and 23 times price/earnings. While these multiples are based on pre-synergy numbers, we view them as relatively high for a private-label purchase.

We don't expect a competitive offer to emerge, as most packaged-food companies aren't interested in boosting their participation in the private-label market. The $6.8 billion bid is likely to win out, with ConAgra financing the deal via debt plus cash on hand and possibly $350 million in new equity (12 million to 13 million shares).